


Guitar Lessons

by armyofbees



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Guitars, Jughead Jones Needs a Hug, Light Angst, Somebody, learning an instrument, please give him a break, post-Episode 7, that should be a tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-17
Updated: 2017-09-17
Packaged: 2018-12-31 00:52:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12120987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/armyofbees/pseuds/armyofbees
Summary: He doesn’t know what he’s doing when he puts his fingers on the strings, against random frets, and plucks at them. He keeps at it for a few seconds, because it gives him something to do, until a weight settles on the bed next to him and Archie asks, “You want me to teach you?”





	Guitar Lessons

The night has been long and fraught with emotion. Jughead is quiet and passive, Archie worried and altogether unsure how to help. Archie’s dad made things worse, too—Jughead knows that he’s not getting the full story, not really, but it still hurts every time he thinks about what his own dad could’ve been and how it ended. So he hasn’t said much, because he’s had enough of arguments and accusations. He just wants everything to work out for once, without him having to force it to.

He knows he’ll have to deal with it in the morning, but for now he’s  _ tired. _

For now, he sits on Archie’s bed, holding his friend’s guitar, not sure how to play it, but comforted by the feeling that, hypothetically, he  _ could. _

Archie kneels a few feet away, not looking at Jughead as he straightens out the air mattress on the ground. Jughead stares down at his fingers, resting against the frets of the guitar. His other hand brushes lightly against the strings, not making any noise.

“Sorry about my dad,” Archie says, and Jughead keeps his eyes on his hands, “and… your dad.”

Jughead shakes his head, tries to look like he doesn’t really care. Like he doesn’t blame Archie or hate Archie for saying that, which he  _ doesn’t, _ but… it stings. “I’m not givin’ up on him, Arch.” He means it, even if it’s a little desperate. His brain keeps replaying what his dad said earlier, though, and he can believe it. He finally looks over at Archie, meets his eyes. “Not yet.”

Archie lets the silence settle for a moment, thinking, and then asks, “You think he’ll show up for work tomorrow?”

_ No, _ is Jughead’s first instinct, followed quickly by  _ Yes, _ and then  _ Probably… not. _ His eyes flicker from Archie’s to the ground. “Never know,” he says, and he doesn’t even realize his hand is gripping the fretboard until he hears a string scratch against the wood and he lets go, almost afraid. “I hope,” he says, more quietly, and he turns away from Archie to look back down at his other hand, now resting on the strings. He picks at them quietly with his thumb.

He doesn’t know what he’s doing when he puts his fingers on the strings, against random frets, and plucks at them. He keeps at it for a few seconds, because it gives him something to do, until a weight settles on the bed next to him and Archie asks, “You want me to teach you?”

Jughead looks up at him, surprised. He’s got that look on his face like when he wants to fix something and he’s not sure how, but he’s  _ trying. _ Jughead appreciates it. “Sure,” he says. He shifts so Archie can get a better view of the fretboard and Archie gives him a smile.

“Okay, so this is a six-stringed guitar, which means that the strings are E, A, D, G, B, and E.” Archie points at the respective strings as he names them. Jughead gives them a slow strum. “To try to remember them better, you can think of it as an acronym, like… Every Amateur Does Get Better Eventually.”

It’s a very Archie acronym.

Jughead nods and looks down at the strings. They stare back at him accusingly. He’s not sure what he’s being accused of.

“The strings go from lowest to highest, if you’re thinking of them in that order. The first string is the low E, and the last is the high E. Make sense?”

Jugheads nods. He has an extremely rudimentary knowledge of anything musical, but this much makes sense. “Yeah, only… why does the E get repeated?”

Archie chuckles a little and says, “In music, the notes only go A through G. So, because the strings are separated by increments of four notes, that means that it’s gonna repeat one of them at least once. In this case, it’s the starting note. Is that… confusing?”

Jughead nods slowly, and he’s not sure if it’s because he understands or if he’s answering the question. He’s a little distracted—he keeps thinking about earlier, when his dad and Archie were playing guitar together, and everything was okay until—

“Jug?”

Jughead nods again, quickly this time. “Yeah, I think so. It’s like… the E string starts on E, then goes through F, G, and… A… and that’s where the next string starts, right?”

“Exactly.” Archie reaches over and guides one of Jughead’s fingers until it’s hovering over the fifth fret under the E string. “Press down.” Jughead does. “Now, play that note and the A string.”

It’s the same tone. Jughead smiles. “Cool.”

Archie nods, and his smile grows. “There are twenty frets, though, so that means you can play a whole lot more than just up to the next string.”

“So… how do you play chords and shit?” Jughead asks.

Archie laughs, and Jughead smiles along. “Here, a simple chord is…” Archie takes Jughead’s hand again and moves his fingers over the first fret of the G string, the second fret of the D string, and the third fret of the A string. “C.”

Jughead gives the strings a gentle strum, and it sounds nice. He plays it again, and then strums it like he’s seen Archie do when he’s playing a song, and Archie nods and says, “Yeah, there you go!”

Jughead smirks a little self-deprecatingly and shakes his head, bumping Archie with his shoulder. “Shut up, it’s one chord.”

“Exactly, it’s a chord!” Archie says, a little too enthusiastic for what seems like a very simple accomplishment, but Jughead smiles anyway. “Your strumming’s pretty nice, too. You can kinda do whatever you want with it, so it’s a little easier, but you’ve got good rhythm.”

Jughead nods, and somehow feels a little better about everything. “Alright, then, teach me another chord, O music man.”

Archie snorts and says, “Alright, then, let’s do E.” He doesn’t take Jughead’s hand this time, just tells him where to put his fingers—first fret on G, second fret on D, second fret on A—and he does. The chords sound… similar, but Jughead likes the way they contrast, and without Archie telling him to, he starts trying to figure out how to switch from one to the other.

“Natural talent,” Archie tells him once he’s figured it out and started playing around with different patterns.

Jughead shakes his head and smiles bashfully and ducks his head, and then they’re both laughing. Archie falls back on the bed and Jughead leans over the guitar, plucking at the strings. It’s quiet for a long time, just Jughead playing notes and trying to find a tune.

“Thank you,” he says eventually, into the air and not to Archie’s face, because he doesn’t think his pride could take that. “For letting me stay and… for everything.”

“It’s no problem,” Archie says immediately. “Really… If you ever need anything, you know I’m here, right?”

Jughead smiles dryly, a little sadly, and strums a C chord. “Yeah.”

“Seriously.” Archie sits up and puts his hand on Jughead’s shoulder, a little too suddenly, and Jughead can’t help that he flinches away on instinct. Archie jolts, surprised and frightened, then slowly moves his hands to rest in his lap. “Whatever you need, you have me. And Betty. And Veronica, and Kevin. You get that, right?”

Jughead shrugs. He knows they’re only friends with him because he’s friends with Betty and Archie, and he knows that if Betty knew everything about him, she’d leave, too, like his mom, like his sister (like Archie, for a time). He’s just… like that.

Archie makes sure Jughead can see what he’s doing before he takes his hands and squeezes them. “Jug. They all care about you. And what you and Betty have… it’s really good. She cares so much. I promise.”

And Jughead looks at him and can  _ almost _ believe it, but instead he nods even though he doesn’t. Archie stares at him for another moment before nodding, too, and dropping his hands.

“We should probably sleep.”

“Probably,” Jughead mumbles. He’s tired of people saying that and not meaning it, but Archie… he’s not sure. He knows that it’d be safer to just brush it off, not let himself fall into whatever trap this newfound friendship is, but people have always been enticing, no matter what facade he puts on to hide it. The best he can do is hope it works out, despite knowing that it won’t.

**Author's Note:**

> quick reminder that i take one-shot requests at my [tumblr](https://2000-bees-in-very-comfy-pajamas.tumblr.com/)!


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